Back from NYC

Oh my, it was nice to visit the Big Apple, but I'm certainly happy to be back home. And the best thing about my being at home is, again: slept 12 hours at my own bed! It doesn't matter if my vacation is 2,5 weeks in Finland or 3 nights at NYC, I always need my beauty sleep with my own pillow.

So we did see 2 shows and paid as much for 2 tickets to MammaMia as I paid for 1 ticket for Phantom. Good deal, if I had one more night, it would have been $35 stand up show. That's going to be next time! But I'm not flying back next week, or even week after that... It's exhausting to wait for your delayed flight at JFK. I don't like airports at all and I definitely didn't like jfk.

Right now I'm planning to go to gym, Since it's too hot to go for a walk. And when I say planning to go, I mean planning. I'm also planning not to eat anything with sugar (I definitely slipped from everything in NY) and I'm so much planning not to have a cup of coffee (3rd one today). But since I most probably will have that coffee anyway, I'm planning where to drink it. There's plenty of options on this one: make my own, walk (it's over 90' right now) to Starbucks or drive there. And then is the timing, which is definitely important! If I have my cup of coffee now, can I have an extra one later in the evening? It's Saturday and if I won't have my Saturday chocolate you'd think that extra cup of coffee is all right?

I'll never run out of my excuses, but as my mom used to tell me, what is well planned is almost done, so I already kind of went to the gym. I kind of did my abs and push ups and a lods of streching since I'm pretty stuck after traveling and sleeping with that mean pillow of Broadway hotel.

Who am I kidding? Definitely myself. But here's a plan for tonight: first to gym, then that coffee and then reading one of my dozen unfinished books. With ONE glass of RED (less sugar) wine. And a little walk later in the evening.

But wait, hubby is going to cook some oysters and how can I even try to have one (I really don't like them, but I always try whatever someone cooks for me) without white wine? There goes my plan! I think I need a new plan, so I just need to lie on my sofa a bit longer.

NYC in 10 minutes

It's huge and best it shows from Empire State Building at the night. Beautiful. But since we have visited Shanghai, I'm not surprised.

Chinatown also smells like... China. Not so good.

NYC is beautiful, noisy and smells bad. How come you never remember how much garbage these big cities produce every day? I also feel cramped. I mean inside my hotel's stairways, streets that are full of stuff and tall buildings are trying to take their share of sun.

I like NY, but after 2 days (well 1 1/2) I am getting to the 'give me some space' state of mind. Especially at Times Square and in afternoon subway. Subway is handy though, but since my first ever subway experience was in St. Petersburg, I've always thought that subways should be DEEP underground.

There is so much to see that you just can't see it all without getting overwhelmed. I think I'll live happily ever after even if I don't visit MET or Natural History Museum. Or Madame Toussoud (don't even remember how it's written) or -please- Ripley's.

The Statue of Liberty is great. Manhattan is great. NYC is great. It will stay like that. But people are not southerners. Most of them are ok, but not great (I can never go back to Finland). And how come we hear German all over! We even pumped to some Swedish tourists in Central Park.

Tonight we'll see Phantom of the Opera and after that we can hopefully get some sleep. I certainly hope so. Shut up out there! Let this little country girl sleep. She is overwhelmed with all these noisy people.

Pieni ihminen suuressa maailmassa

Pikapäivitys 1 isosta omenasta. Lento 2 tuntia (oikeesti lennettiin alle puoltoista) ja taksi JFK:ta 40 minuuttia hotellille, joka sijaitsee Times Squarella. Ei paha! ✈️

Ekaks käveleskeltiin lähinurkilla ja korkattiin Central Park. On se vähän isompi kuin Näsinpuisto. Juotiin kaffeet Trumpin mestassa, muttei ostettu mitään kaupoista, sillä pistettiin rahat mieluummin Empire State Buildingiin iltasella. Sinne käveli 5th Avenueta vartin verran ja löntysteli 7th:iä takaisin puoli tuntia, sillä Times Squarella oli pari muutakin turistia. Aika makee oli öinen näkymä, kun valoja jatkui silmänkantamattomiin. Kännykkäkuvia on tuolla kuvapäiväkirjassa, yritän laittaa parempia sitten kun Sonja saa kamerastaan ulos. Vaikka niinhän se on, että ei tätä tunnelmaa oikein saa kameraan; toisessa maailmassa tällainen maalaistyttö täällä käpyttelee!

Huomenna sitten kesytetään metro ja katsellaan Vapaudenpatsasta ulkoapäin (sen verran meni rahaa Empire State buildingiin) ja Brooklyn Bridge on suunnitelmissa katsastaa. Illalla on sitten Oopperan kummitus tässä lähinurkilla. Ja kattellaan mitä eteen tulee, olishan tuossa pari museota ja vaikkapa Macy's kohdilla, jos lompakko alkaa pullottaa... 💸

Yllättäviä juttuja NYC:ssä:
- hirveesti on menossa tietöitä jokapaikassa. Myös Times Square on osin pressujen peitossa
- en ole ollenkaan eksyksissä (vielä), vaikka joudunkin operoimaan numeroilla: hotelli on west 46th:llä 6th:n ja 7:th  avenuen välissä. Onneksi tuossa likellä menee nimeltä mainittu katu, muuan Broadway.
-täällä on hienoja kirkkoja (ja ne on auki), mutta ne katoaa rakennusten väliin. Naapurissa on yksi ja sinne aion poiketa vielä.
- täällä miljoonakaupungissa ei ole yhtään turvaton olo. Pysykäämme täällä  Manhattanilla pitämässä tämä illuusio!